Greece had a memorable summer in 2006 by winning silver at the FIBA World Championship.

Biggest EuroBasket Success
2005 was undoubtedly a milestone in Greek basketball history, but the biggest success has to be gold in 1987. Not only did that victory inspire a young generation of Greek kids to pick up a basketball, but it also produced the coach who led Greece back to glory 18 years later, Panagiotis Yannakis.

1987 was the first time that EuroBasket came to Greece and the home team fans responded with a joyous outburst of Greek pride. Passion and basketball have become synonymous with Greece in the past 20 years, but it was EuroBasket 1987 which first showed that fervour to the rest of the world.

Led by the legendary Nick Galis, the team responded to the passionate support with a memorable tournament which culminated in the gold medal. Between 1951 and 1985 only one country not named Yugoslavia or the Soviet Union had won EuroBasket gold (Italy in 1983). But Greece beat both those teams, culminating in an overtime gold medal win over the Soviets in the final to claim the title.

Biggest EuroBasket Disaster
EuroBasket 1999 sparked the beginning of a Greek decline which lasted until the gold medal in 2005. Between 1987 and 1997, Greece had not finished outside of the top five and medaled twice. That all changed in 1999 when the team led by Dimitrios Papanikolaou, Georgios Sigalas and Evangelos Koronios slumped to 16th place in France.
Greece were shocked by Germany in their opening game when a 21-year old Dirk Nowitzki had 21 points to lead his side to a 59-58 win. Worse was to come the following day when Greece succumbed to outsiders Czech Republic, 82-73. Facing a do-or-die final group game against Lithuania, Greece were no match for Arvydas Sabonis (18 points and eight rebounds) and Arturas Karnisovas (20 points, five rebounds and five steals) and went down 82-64.

Best Individual Performance/Best Player of All-Time

Not only can Nick Galis claim to be the best Greek player of all time, but he also goes down as one of the best Europeans ever. Statistically, nobody has ever produced nearly as much as Galis did on the EuroBasket stage and the numbers speak for themselves. Galis averaged 30.5 points in 146 games with the Greek national team, including a gaudy 37 ppg at EuroBasket 1987, 35.6 ppg in 1989 and 32.4 ppg in 1991. His 40-point haul led Greece to EuroBasket gold in 1987 and he will undoubtedly go down as his country’s all-time greatest performer.

Scouting Report

Greece can beat you in a lot of ways and boasts one of the deepest rotations of any international team. Coach Yannakis has an abundance of players who can play multiple positions and he uses all of them. It is not uncommon to see Greece attack a zone defense with four shooters and one big man or shooting guard Dimitris Diamintidis operate in the low post offensively. Theo Papaloukas is one, if not, the best offensive leaders in the international game while Diamintidis has been voted the Euroleague’s top defender for the past two seasons. Vassilis Spanoulis and Nikos Zisis are deadly shooters from the backcourt, while Sofoklis Schortianitis and Lazaros Papadopoulos make-up a formidable front line.

The Greeks made their name at EuroBasket 2005 on defense, particularly in the half-court. In Japan, their versatility on the offensive end was also on display, most notably in their 101-95 defeat of the USA in the semi-finals.

Individual statistics are not important to this Greek team and in Japan no one player dominated in any statistical category. The only stat that matters to this team is the ‘W’ column.

Prediction

On the eve of the semifinals of the World Championship it looked almost certain that Greece would add a world title to their EuroBasket gold from the previous year. They were coming off an awe-inspiring defeat of the USA and would face a Pau Gasol-less Spain in the final. Of course, Spain surprised everybody by destroying Greece on the defensive end and winning a game that was effectively over at halftime.

At EuroBasket, hosts Spain will be Greece’s biggest rivals. Greece will be looking for revenge against Spain and a second consecutive EuroBasket title.

Likely Squad

Greece were struck a huge blow in Japan when Anderson Varejao’s sharp elbows put an early end to Nikos Zisis’ tournament. Everybody seems to be healthy and with an average age of 27, this team is entering its prime. The only question mark hangs over Houston Rockets guard Vassilis Spanoulis and whether he will get a release from his NBA club to play at EuroBasket.

Last 10 FIBA Events

2006 - World Championship Saitama, Silver Medal
2005 - EuroBasket Belgrade, Gold Medal
2004 - Olympics Athens, 5th
2003 - EuroBasket Stockholm, 5th
2002 - World Championship Indianapolis, Did not qualify
2001 - EuroBasket Istanbul, 9-12th
2000 - Olympics Sydney, Did not qualify
1999 - EuroBasket Paris, 16th
1998 - World Championship, Athens 4th
1997 - EuroBasket Barcelona, 4th